Lessons learned from VT

Should the current default home page be there at the time of the problem? Should we have a much simpler home page?

I think we are in better shape with the home page now in that it picks up a file and RSS parses to generate that little annoucements thing. Penn State should have an "emergency" web page that they could switch over that just has information on it. Right now, all of those graphics take time to download, by just having a plain old text page with updates, things should/would go faster. The main penn state home page should be load balanced real soon so that it can take the load. In addition, we should be prepared to have a local copy instead of something out of DFS (I think its DFS). We need to remove all of our dependencies on the file system. If I remember correctly that during 9/11 we did what you suggested and that was deliver directly to the mailbox. Things seems to get out there very quickly. Steve, it looks like what you are looking for is a set of procedures for dealing with an incident like this. We really do need something like this. Infrastructure (ASET) and Public Information (and other groups), really need to get to the table and make recommendations and figure these things out. In addition, we need to test the plan to make sure it really works during a crisis.

Another idea that is more radical, is that maybe AIT should purchase a really good police scanner. That way, we will have an idea of what is going on around campus. That could give us more time from a planning standpoint. In this area, you need to purchase what is called a triple trunker, the one in my office is only a single one. Just an idea.

What is needed is networked ticker-like signs in every building and a few smaller Jordan Center-like signs around campus. %99.99999 of the time they will post the usual announcements. There are examples in the Natatorium, the IM building and there is an lcd panel outside of the new fitness center at Rec Hall. Or closed circuit TV like airport departures/arrivals.

More thoughts:

http://camplesegroup.com/blog/?p=657

This is a good discussion to have, at any point in time - whether in the wake of a true tragedy or just when things are "normal" so to speak.

Today, while getting ready for work, I watched ABC World News. During one segment on the VT tragedy, a young woman (student) was interviewed regarding one of the first victims, Ryan "Stack" Clark - she noted that "email wasn't working and cell service wasn't working, so I checked Stack's Facebook profile..." as many other students wound up doing, according to this report. Many students/friends had posted messages to the tune of "are you ok?" b/c they hadn't heard from him. Once his family was notified, they immediately posted information to Ryan's FaceBook profile, and this is how his friends found out about his death (again, according to the interview I saw this morning).

My ears were burning and it got me thinking about Kevin's "little diagram" about how we build and leverage our current infrastructure(s) to interface with and provide a variety of services. One of the underlying themes - and challenges - how do we leverage our current infrastructure to interface with "Web 2.0" technologies, inclusive of FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, IM, del.icio.us, flicr, etc., etc.? Perhaps that question is part of the answer re: our response to "getting the word out in a timely fashion" when and while something like this happens. From my perspective, and I could be way off, here, this ties into a broader communications spectrum, especially since students use these technologies on a regular basis (maybe even more than using internal ones provided through any given insitution - whether it's at Penn State or otherwise) - if we're going to reach the community - students, faculty, staff - all affiliates - at Penn State, we also need to think outside of our immediate surroundings to do so, too, in my opinion. I remember Kevin talking about "solving the virtual organization challenge" months ago, before he became VP - and now his ideas and that diagram seem almost prophetic to me.

Referencing information:
* http://tlt.its.psu.edu/fmc/itsforum/ (see Kevin's presentation, Enabling Virtual Organizations)
* http://live.psu.edu/story/23696

After reading the FACSTAFF email that went out earlier today - a discussion of what we "could" or "should" do is warranted but compared to this email and the implied commitment behind it - ie. this WILL work in case of a similar emergency... I wonder if we are in a position to back this up right now.

Would it make sense to begin our own internal evaluations of 'readiness' with the following points from that email as our criteria? I read "half-million subscribers" nd I compare that to what I'm reading in this discussion thread and I have to wonder who committed to saying "if all else fails we can certainly COUNT on the following communication channels being true..." I understand why such a message needs to go out to reassure the Penn State community here and mostly at home (parents and alumni of course). I think it still might be an irresponsible message if we don't know for sure that those communication channels will perform as promised.

QUOTE from Penn State Faculty/Staff News -SPECIAL EDITION (04.17.06):

"Our police department works regularly with the Department of Public Information, and we have detailed plans in place for how to communicate in an emergency. There is no single best way to communicate with everyone, so we have a number of different communication tools available. The Penn State Newswire and the Penn State Live news Web site are tied into approximately a half million subscribers. We also have notification systems through WPSU radio and TV along with all other local media outlets.

In addition, last summer Penn State launched PSUTXT, a text-messaging system that can send emergency information directly to cell phones.
To subscribe, visit http://newswires.psu.edu and click on the registration link at the bottom of the page under the PSUTXT heading."

I don't necessarily think that more email is the answer. It's fairly likely that users would either miss the announcement or their client would flag it as spam (for example, I don't recall seeing the FACSTAFF email that Gretta referred to).

At the same time, the "Web 2.0" approaches (facebook, twitter, etc) seem to lack authentication (for that matter, so does PSUTXT, if I understand it correctly).

I think we have two audiences: those internal to PSU, and the public-at-large. I'm not sure that any one technology would address both.